Disposable surgical legging



Jan. 28, 1969 I F. M. LEWIS, JR

DISPOSABLE SURGICAL LEGGING l I L E Filed D60. 23, 1966 w lfu I "HUM EB United States Patent 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved disposable surgical legging used to cover the upraised legs of a surgical patient. The improvement comprises fitting conventional rectangular-shaped, loosefitting leggings with a pair of straps fastened to the open end of the legging in offset positions to facilitate opening the legging for placement on the patient.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an improvement in disposable surgical leggings especially adapted for covering the upraised legs of a surgical patient.

In operating room procedures involving child birth, gynecological surgery, and perineal surgery, the patient is usually placed in a supine position with legs spread and held in an elevated attitude by suitable stirrups. During surgery it is common practice to cover the legs and other areas of the patient not directly involved in the surgery with protective sterile material. Up until recent years, this material has been woven cloth, carefully sterilized before use. However, because of the high costs involved in laundering, sterilizing, and storing the cloth material, hospitals now are gradually changing to disposables, which after a single use maybe thrown away or burned.

The suppliers of such disposables try to provide all the draping materials required for a specific surgical procedure in a single sealed package. These packages contain such items as towels, sponges, operating table covers drape sheets for the patient, and surgical incision sheets, all designed, assembed, and packed in accordance with the particular needs of the hospital being served. Each of the items are prefolded, individually labeled and, in many cases, presterilized.

Representative patents describing some of the items involved include US. Patent Nos. 2,715,902, 3,030,957, 3,037,507, 3,182,656, 3,236,370 and 3,251,360.

Since most of the items are prefolded for compact packaging purposes, it was found that even when the user is completely familiar with the particular put-up, difficulties are often encountered in properly unfolding some of the specialty drapes. This is especially true of the leggings, which must be grasped by the user so that they open readily for placement over the upraised legs or other extremities. In the prior art, the leggings comprise loosely fitting rectangular shaped stockings, or open-ended flat envelopes which resemble pillow cases. The open end of the conventional legging is provided with exterior cuffs into which the users hands are inserted for application to the patient. By spreading the hands apart, the top of the legging is opened whereupon the legging may be placed over the patients legs. However, with this arrangement it is quite easy for the hands of the user to slip out, in which case the drape may fall to the floor. Also, unless extreme care is exercised, it is easy to place the hands in the cuffs in the wrong positioniand the legging will not open properly. Because draping the patient must be done as quickly as possible, it would be desirable to provide a legging which may be handled with less chance of failure. This invention is directed particularly to solving the latter problem.

3,424,153 Patented Jan. 28, 1969 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a disposable legging in the form of the familiar loose-fitting rectangular stocking or open-ended flat envelope. However, instead of conventional exterior cuffs, the improved legging has a pair of straps attached in offset arrangement at the open end. To further assist proper usage, these straps may be marked with indicia showing where the attending nurse should pick them up. The improved arrangement provides a positive strap means for opening the legging properly, and since the straps may be gripped firmly by the hands there is little danger that the legging may accidentally slip to the floor.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a disposable legging having strap means which enable the user to exercise positive control over the placement of the drape on a patient.

It is a further object to arrange straps at the open end of disposable leggings in such position that they may easily be identified, especially when the legging is in its folded condition as received from the supplier.

Another object is to provide the straps with easily recognizable directional indicia as a further aid to the user in the operating room.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawing wherein there is described and illustrated a disposable surgical legging embodying selected forms of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the preferred form of the improved disposable legging of this invention, with one corner of the open end turned back, and with one corner of the closed end partially broken away.

FIGURES 2, 3, 4, and 5 are plan views of the FIGURE 1 legging showing the various folding stages used to prepare the legging for compact packaging.

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of another embodiment of the folded legging.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The improved legging structure, as shown in the drawing, comprises a flat sheet of disposable flexible material folded at 11 to provide a top panel 12 and a bottom panel 13. The folded over panels are secured together along bottom edge 14 and partially up side edge 15 b suitable adhesive means 16, as shown in the broken away area in the lower right corner, to form a flat rectangular envelope with one end open and one end closed. In the upper portion on one side of the legging near the open end, the panels preferably are left unattached, as shown at 17.

Secured to the inner side of top panel 12 at the open end of the legging is an elongated strap 18, and secured to the inner side of bottom panel 13 at the open end of the legging is another strap 19. In the preferred arrangement, strap 18 is offset to the right of strap 19 so that both are clearly visible. Strap 18 is also slightly to the left of the leggings longitudinal centerline in order not to interfere with subsequent folding operations. Broken lines 20, 21, 22, and 23 indicate fold lines on which the legging is folded to make a multi-layered pack for compact packaging and storage purposes.

In FIG. 2 the legging is shown folded on itself from bottom to top on line 22; in FIG. 3, the folded legging of FIG. 2 is shown folded once more on itself from bottom to top, this time on line 21; and in FIG. 4, the legging as folded in FIG. 3 is shown folded on itself once again, this time from right to left on line 20'.

The folded legging, in its compact multilayered pack form, may be packaged with other items in a surgical pack with the straps hanging free, as shown in FIG. 4, since the straps 18 and 19 are easily identifiable by the user. However, it is preferred that the straps be folded further, as shown in FIG. 5, to make a neater, more compact, arrangement. In FIG. 5, the straps are folded down over the top surface 24 of the folded legging packet, with the free end of each strap being folded back on itself as shown. In addition, a portion of the strap in the area where it is folded back on itself, preferably may contain indicia telling where the strap should be grasped and lifted to open the legging for use. This folded over strap arrangement also provides a nurse, who may not have scrubbed, a place to grasp the legging without touching the main sterilized portions. After draping the patient, the straps may then be placed inside the leggings to avoid contact with the surgeon.

When one of the straps is picked up in each hand and the legging lifted up, the legging will unfold to its full length as'shown in FIG. 1. At the same time, spreading the hands apart will cause the top to open, whereby the legging may be easily draped over a leg of the patient.

In FIG. 6, an alternative form of suitable straps is shown. In this embodiment, straps 28 and 29 comprise closed loops which to some users may provide a firmer, more positive grip than does the plain flat strap.

The straps are preferably made of the same disposable material as the legging itself. Other material, such as thin plastic, may also be used for the straps, but should be a material which stands the high temperatures of steam sterilization with deteriorating.

The straps may also be of a different color than the main body of the legging so that they are more readily identifiable by the user.

Material for fabricating the legging may selected from several of the nonwoven fabric and paper combinations presently available on the market. Some of these include laminated tissue sheets interiorly reinforced with threads, carded and bonded non-woven fiber webs, polyethylenetissue laminates, combination of aligned fibers and tissue sheets, and the like. In general, the material should be soft and flexible to drape readily, and have sufficient strength to hold up in a wet environment. Preferably, the material should also be resistant to moisture and flame.

While the principal use for the legging is as a drape for the lower extremities of a patient during surgery, the improved legging may also be used to cover the arms of a patient, or may also be used to cover surgical devices such as a Mayo stand.

The preferred size for use as a leg drape is about 48 by 20". However, various other sizes may be found equally useful as a legging, or in other applications.

While the above describes several preferred embodiments, various changes in the described construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which may be determined by reference to the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A disposable surgical legging comprising a sheet of flexible material in the form of a flat elongate envelope having a front panel and a back panel attached to each other along their respective side and bottom edges providing said envelope with an open top and a closed bottom, the open top having attached thereto a pair of straps, the first of said straps being attached to the top edge of said front panel at a point slightly offset from the longitudinal centerline of said panel, and the second of said straps being attached to the top edge of said back panel and offset from said first strap.

2. The legging of claim 1 in which one side edge is open for a substantial distance down from said open end.

3. The legging of claim 1 in which each of said straps comprises a closed loop.

4. The legging of claim 1 in which said flexible mate rial comprises reinforced non-woven web material.

5. The legging of claim 1 in which said envelope is folded on itself in equal segments twice from the bottom and once from the side forming a folded multilayered pack.

6. The folded pack of claim 5 in which said straps are folded over the top surface thereof.

7. The folded pack of claim 6 in which the free end portions of said straps are folded back on themselves.

8. The folded pack of claim 7 in which the folded back portions of the straps have directional indicia marked thereon.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,030,957 4/1962 Melges l28132 3,037,507 6/1962 Melges 128-292 3,182,656 5/1965 Pyne 128l32 3,251,360 5/1966 Melges 128-132 3,335,719 8/1967 Boucher l28132 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

